Something Borrowed
by Tuna Salad Sonnet
Summary: Katara has something old, new, and blue, but nothing borrowed! And her wedding is starting in ten minutes! Woe! [Kataang friendship at a Zutara wedding]


**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Avatar: The Last Airbender _or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.

_**Ships: **_(Friendship) Katara/Aang. Mentions of: Toph/Katara, Zuko/Aang, Ty Lee/Aang. (Romance) Mentions of: Zuko/Katara, Toph/Aang  
_**Warnings: **_None.

* * *

**Something Borrowed**

Pocket fold, pocket fold, pocket fold...

Or was it jacket?

Katara froze. She couldn't look it up _now. _She would need to go to the library on the other side of the palace, and the wedding was in ten minutes. She needed to know, and she needed to know quickly.

She stood up from the writing desk mechanically and crossed the room in four steps. Mai would know. She reached from the doorknob...

Knock, knock, knock.

She blinked at her side of the door. Feeling a little embarrassed in front of herself, she hesitated before saying, "Hello?"

"Katara?"

She blinked again. It_wasn't_ the voice of one of her seven bridesmaids, who had been trying to get her to come out of the little drawing room. Even though it had deepened, she could still recognize it anywhere.

"Aang?" she replied.

"Yeah, it's me. Can I come in?"

"S-sure."

She took a couple of steps backward so Aang could swing the door open. He stepped in and smiled at her, and she tried her best to smile back.

He had been letting his hair grown in ever since Toph had told him of the engagement. She swore he and Zuko could be brothers sometimes, even though Aang's hair was a slightly lighter brown. He wore shiny gold robes, and he was carried a decorated lidded box. He put it on a table near the doorway.

They stood in a slightly awkward silence when Aang took a breath and started talking.

"Katara-"

"I know it's stupid! I don't have something borrowed! So what? I have the three other things! It's stupid to try and make a thousand paper cranes in ten minutes to make up for it right?"

Aang stared at her in shock. "Uh...well..."

Katara flopped into her chair and flipped the unfinished paper crane onto its other side.

Aang watched her for a couple of seconds, then walked up to the desk and sat on his haunches next to her chair.

"Katara?"

She turned to him and looked into his grey eyes. He raised his eyebrows at her. "What are you worried about? Start at the beginning."

She took a deep breath and reached across the desk to pick up the one paper crane she had finished: gold and red paper. She fiddled with its neck and tail then said, "I was worried about saying yes."

"When he proposed?" He prompted.

"Yeah. I was worried that I wouldn't make a good Fire Lady."

"You've been studying. We all have."

"Just because of me."

"No, that's not true! Fire Nation history is...fun..."

Katara rolled her eyes and nudged him with her elbow. "Right."

"Okay, other than that," Aang picked up the unfinished crane: blue and silver. He sat on the floor, cross legged. Katara pulled back the chair so she could face him and not the desk.

"I'm worried...because I can't...I won't..."

Aang finished the crane and put it next to the other on the desk. "Won't what?"

"What if...?" She buried her head in her hands and her shoulders started shaking uncontrollably.

Concern immediately pierced Aang's heart. Aang crawled over to her chair and sat on his haunches in front of her like a child talking to his mother. He took her hands gently away from her face and held them in his own. Tears rolled down her face.

"Katara..." He whispered gently. "You know he's just as nervous as you. When Ty Lee came to tell us that you'd locked yourself in this room, he wouldn't stop pacing. He's probably worn a hole in the floor."

She sniffed. "I know he's worried. I mean, what will the history books write about the first Fire Lord with a waterbender wife?"

"That his wife was stupid to worry about stuff like that. That's what they'll write."

Katara smiled weakly.

"No, really," Aang replied. "A hundred years from now, kids will be reading about Fire Lord Zuko and the textbook will say, 'Fire Lord Zuko married Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. On the day of the wedding, she was worried about what this exact textbook would write about her.' And all the kids will look at each other and go, 'How stupid is that?'"

"What else would they say?" Katara asked. She took her hand out Aang's and brushed her eyes, smiling.

Aang stared at the ceiling in thought. "Well...they'd say, that Aang, the Avatar at the time, and a good friend-"

"-Very good friend." She corrected.

"Thank you, very good friend of the couple perhaps knew… how they felt about nervousness when it comes to marriage..."

Katara eyes widened.

"...because he was planning on proposing to Toph Bei Fong in the somewhat-near future?"

Katara sat up in the chair and clasped her hands over her mouth. She stared at the door that she knew her maid of honour was waiting behind and looked back at him. "Really?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'll show you the ring at the reception," Aang whispered back. "But anyway, that's off-topic. We're talking about what the history books say about you're wedding."

"Oh, right." Katara and Aang went back to holding hands.

"They would say...that Zuko was very lucky to have such a beautiful, caring, courageous bride as Katara. And...that..."

"He was also lucky to have such a handsome best man?"

Aang grinned and blushed a little. "Well...they could put that in the margin.

"But despite the fact that they loved each other very much and they both _knew_ that, they were worried that something would go wrong. That they wouldn't be able to support each other like they _knew_ they could and would."

"What else would they write?"

"That they got married. The celebration _tried its best_ to be perfect, but they knew that no matter what the ceremony was like, no matter how many rude jokes were made by the bride's brother, no matter how many uninvited guests showed up, their bond was what mattered. And...uh...that...uh…"

"That they lived happily ever after?"

"Um..."

"That they brought a happy and peaceful rule?"

"Uh..."

"That they had lots of little baby Zuko and Kataras?"

"Well...what? Wait, no!" Katara laughed as Aang slapped himself in the forehead. "I forgot what I was going to say! And it was really good too!"

"It's okay, Aang. I'm not worried anymore." She shrugged. "At least not as much, anyway. I think I just needed to talk to you." She kneeled at the foot of her chair so she could hug him. "Thanks a lot."

He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. "No problem."

Opening her eyes, she found herself looking at the lidded box that Aang had first brought in when he came in to the little drawing room. "So, what's that?" she asked. "Early wedding present?"

They let go of each other and Aang looked over his shoulder. He grinned. "Guess you could say that."

They both stood up and Aang handed her the box. "Ty Lee helped me make it. She's good with crafty stuff."

"Crafty stuff, eh?" Katara opened the lid and saw whole lot of white tissue paper. She lifted it gently, and saw the gift beneath. She gasped.

"Do you remember it?"

"Oh, in the name of Yue." Katara lifted the gleaming metal crown out of the box. The white tissue paper was actually chiffon, folded over many times to fit within the box. Two serpents held up a gleaming sun. "Yes! This was from _years ago!_ This was when I caught Sokka's cold after that huge storm! And Momo kept bringing back all this junk, and, you got captured by Zhao and…and…you kept this?"

Aang, nodded, grinning. He could still look so much like a 12 year old sometimes. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" She exclaimed. Her face fell into curiousity for a second. "What's with the fabric though?"

"Oh, it's an airbender tradition." Aang replied. "When our people got married, the wife wore a veil over her face to protect her from evil spirits and bad luck and stuff. I'll have to tell Zuko about it."

She grinned at him. "Why?"

Aang blinked. "Because it's your Something Borrowed."

Katara blinked at him, looked at the crown, and back. "Really?"

"Yeah, Zuko has to lift the veil before he kisses you."

"I'm...I'm really going to _wear_ this? I thought you wanted me to _keep_ it somewhere…as a gift!"

"Well, I hope you wear it. Ty Lee had to do some pretty fancy handwork to attach that veil to the crown."

She hugged him around the neck again (she had to stand on tiptoes) and said, "Aang, you're...great."

"Wow, nice description."

She pulled out of the hug again and whacked his arm. "You've been around Sokka and Toph too long. Their sarcasm's rubbing off on everyone."

Aang rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, well, watcha goin' to do?"

She handed the crown back to him. "Can you put it on?"

"Oh, yeah sure."

Aang placed the crown on her head softly and they walked over to a full body mirror in the corner. Aang stood behind her, grinning that airbender grin.

"Alright," Katara said, standing up tall in the mirror. "Something Old: the hairstyle." She patted the bun at the top of her head and made sure the beads keeping her hair loopies were still intact.

"Something New: the necklace." She fingered the new carving, which hung from a red ribbon.

"Something Borrowed: the crown and veil." Aang gave a thumbs up.

"And Something Blue..."

Aang grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him. He took her hands and kissed her forehead (he had gotten so tall over the years and had to bend down slightly). "Your eyes."

She smiled crookedly up at him.

"Actually, I was going to say my dress."

"Oh.

"That works too."

* * *

**AN. **So, I'm posting this on a Thursday. I finished proofreading this on _Monday. _Homework is frustrating, especially science and it's crazy nomenclature. 

1) I know monks can't get married, so therefore there shouldn't really be any airbender wedding tradition, but you know, there's gotta be _some _airbender married couples out there, right? Air Nomads would have to have celebrations about something _sometime _right? I mean, they're _Air Nomads._ I imagine they'd have pretty awesome parties.

2) I'm thinking I might want to do a trilogy of how Katara, Ty Lee, and Toph get engaged, (The Ty Lee one would be quite funny if I write it correctly) but I'm having trouble wondering how Fire Nation people would propose. Water we know is caved necklace, Earth I imagine is a ring, Air I imagine is a piece of jewelry (maybe bracelet?) that's made of natural fibres. Maybe Fire is earrings? Does anyone have any suggestions, or am I going overboard with 4 different types of jewelry for 4 different elements?  
_Edit: Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Once I get around to writing the trilogy, I'll make sure to use a topknot ring/hair decoration as a FN engagement present._

3) This whole fic came to me while playing AlisaChristopher's Katara Dress Up game on DeviantArt. It's _incredibly _addicting. (For me at least)


End file.
